(This interview has been lightly edited)

What sparked the idea of the Kempegowda International Airport Terminal 2 as a ‘terminal in a garden’?

The idea for Terminal 2 came from a larger question around how infrastructure could evolve beyond being purely functional to becoming more contextual, human-centric, and environmentally responsive. Bengaluru is globally recognised both as a garden city and a technology hub, and T2 was envisioned as an expression of those identities coming together in a contemporary and globally benchmarked way. Passenger experience was always central to this vision. Airports are inherently high-intensity environments, and we wanted to create a space that felt calming, immersive and emotionally connected to the city. Sustainability and biophilic thinking were therefore embedded into the project from the earliest stages rather than being added as standalone features. Today, T2 integrates indoor landscapes, natural materials, daylight optimisation, renewable energy and water-conscious systems designed to improve both passenger comfort and operational efficiency. This philosophy further extends into the passenger experience through ‘Feels Like BLR’, our multisensory platform that brings together public art, the ‘Rhythm of BLR’ sonic identity, the ‘BLR Airport Anthem’ (titled The World is Waiting for You and composed by three-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej), and our signature fragrance to create a stronger sense of connection between the passengers and the airport. T2 is the only terminal in India to be honoured by the Prix Versailles, an internationally acclaimed design and architecture award acknowledged by UNESCO. It is also the only Indian airport terminal to get the prestigious Skytrax 5-star rating. T2 is also designed to operate at significant scale and intensity. With BLR Airport handling over 44 million passengers in 2025 and T2 Phase 2 underway to add 20 million more passenger capacity by 2028–29, the focus was on building infrastructure that remains resilient and efficient at scale. In many ways, T2 reflects a broader shift in how infrastructure in India is being reimagined not just as engineering assets, but as environmental, cultural and social spaces.

Projects like Terminal 2 are often described as biophilic or nature-inspired, but in practice what distinguishes a genuinely ‘living’ system from a designed experience of nature, especially when it has to be sustained daily through maintenance, climate and operations?

A genuinely ‘living’ system must function as part of the operational ecosystem rather than exist as a visual layer added onto infrastructure. At an airport scale, every design decision impacts maintenance, climate responsiveness, passenger movement, energy efficiency and long-term resilience. What makes T2 distinctive is the extent to which nature, design, technology and operations have been integrated at scale. The terminal incorporates over 620,000 plants, curated indoor gardens, daylight optimisation, self-watering systems, engineered bamboo and climate-responsive materials that work together as interconnected systems rather than isolated experiences. Maintaining this within a high-footfall airport environment requires continuous horticultural management, integrated irrigation, environmental controls and long-term operational planning. Similarly, the landscape, water systems and sustainable infrastructure at Terminal 2 are all designed to function cohesively within daily operations. This philosophy also extends into how passengers emotionally experience the terminal. Spaces such as ‘The Garden Trail’ create moments of pause and calm within the airport journey, reinforcing Bengaluru’s identity as a garden city while helping reduce travel stress through biophilic design principles.

The idea of ‘living materials’ is often discussed in small-scale or experimental contexts. What does it take to translate that idea into something as large and as complex as Terminal 2?

At the scale of Terminal 2, the conversation shifts from experimentation to systems-level integration. Every material choice has implications across durability, sustainability, maintenance, passenger movement and long-term operational continuity. Our approach was to ensure that architecture, landscape, engineering, technology and culture, function cohesively over time. Materials such as engineered bamboo and natural stone were integrated alongside advanced engineering systems, landscaped environments and daylight-responsive architecture to create infrastructure that is both sustainable and operationally resilient. A strong example is ‘Tiger Wings’, the large-scale vertical garden developed with botanist Patrick Blanc (inventor of the Vertical Garden), which integrates over 15,000 plants across 153 species native to Karnataka and the Western Ghats. Beyond its visual impact, it reflects the larger philosophy of integrating ecology meaningfully into infrastructure. Similarly, the terminal’s suspended planter systems, designed as bells and layered basket veils collectively support nearly 150,000 live hanging plants across 500 installations within the terminal space. The terminal reuses rainwater from across the airport, and the indoor and outdoor gardens are designed to only require water that is harvested on-site.

Do you see projects like Terminal 2 as part of a broader shift in how infrastructure is being imagined in India? What might this approach offer to global conversations on sustainability and design?

Absolutely. Infrastructure today is increasingly being evaluated not only by scale and efficiency, but also by how responsibly it integrates into urban life, the environment and the human experience. Historically, infrastructure conversations in emerging economies focused primarily on speed, access and capacity. Those priorities remain important, but the next phase of growth requires equal emphasis on sustainability, resilience, inclusivity and quality of experience. Projects like Terminal 2 demonstrate that large-scale infrastructure in India can be globally benchmarked while remaining deeply rooted in local climate, culture and context. That is where India has a unique opportunity in the global sustainability conversation, not by replicating international models, but by creating infrastructure that is adaptive, resource-conscious and culturally distinctive.